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Radio control
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==History== The idea of controlling unmanned vehicles (for the most part in an attempt to improve the accuracy of [[Torpedo|torpedoes]] for military purposes) predates the invention of radio. The latter half of the 1800s saw development of many such devices, connected to an operator by wires, including the first practical application invented by German engineer [[Werner von Siemens]] in 1870.<ref>H. R. Everett, Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II, MIT Press - 2015, pages 79-80</ref> [[File:Tesla boat1.jpg|150px|thumb|left|In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled scale boat.]] Getting rid of the wires via using a new wireless technology, radio, appeared in the late 1890s. In 1897 British engineer Ernest Wilson and C. J. Evans patented a radio-controlled torpedo or demonstrated radio-controlled boats on the [[Thames river]] (accounts of what they did vary).<ref>H. R. Everett, Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II, MIT Press - 2015, page 87</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNjgCgAAQBAJ&q=Wilson+1897+Torpedo&pg=PA87 |title=Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II |isbn=9780262029223 |last1=Everett |first1=H. R. |date=6 November 2015|publisher=MIT Press }}</ref> At an 1898 exhibition at [[Madison Square Garden]], [[Nikola Tesla]] demonstrated a small boat that used a [[coherer]]-based radio control.<ref>[[Tapan K. Sarkar]], '' History of wireless'', John Wiley and Sons, 2006, {{ISBN|0-471-71814-9}}, p. 276-278.</ref> With an eye towards selling the idea to the US government as a torpedo, Tesla's 1898 patent included a clockwork frequency changer so an enemy could not take control of the device.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=613809 |pubdate=1898-11-08 |title=Method of and apparatus for controlling mechanism of moving vessels or vehicles |inventor1-last=Tesla |inventor1-first=Nikola}}</ref> [[File:Telekino receptor.JPG|thumb|The ''Telekino'', invented by Leonardo Torres Quevedo in 1903, which consisted of a [[robot]] that executed commands transmitted by electromagnetic waves.]] In 1903, the Spanish engineer [[Leonardo Torres Quevedo]] introduced a radio based control system called the "''Telekino''"<ref>[[Tapan K. Sarkar]], '' History of wireless'', John Wiley and Sons, 2006, {{ISBN|0-471-71814-9}}, p. 97.</ref> at the [[Paris Academy of Sciences]]. In the same year, he applied for several patents in other countries.<ref>Torres, Leonardo, "[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/001377220/publication/FR327218A?q=pn%3DFR327218A FR327218A Système dit telekine pour commander à distance un mouvement mécanique.]", ''Espacenet'', 10 December 1902.</ref><ref>Torres, Leonardo, "[https://worldwide.espacenet.com//publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=190327073a&FT=D GB190327073 (A) ― Means or Method for Directing Mechanical Movements at or from a Distance.]", ''Espacenet'', 10 December 1903.</ref> It was intended as a way of testing [[Astra-Torres airship]], a dirigible of his own design, without risking human lives.<ref>Randy Alfred, "[https://www.wired.com/2011/11/1107wireless-remote-control/ Nov. 7, 1905: Remote Control Wows Public]", ''Wired'', 7 November 2011.</ref> Unlike the previous mechanisms, which carried out actions of the 'on/off' type, Torres established a system for controlling any mechanical or electrical device with different states of operation. This method required a transmitter capable of sending a family of different [[Code word (communication)|code word]]s by means of a binary [[telegraph key]] signal, and a receiver, which was able to set up a different state of operation in the device being used, depending on the code word. It was able to select different positions for the [[steering engine]] and different velocities for the [[propelling engine]] independently, and also to act over other mechanisms such an [[electric light]], for switching it, and a [[flag]], for raising or dropping it, at the same time,<ref name="Yuste2008">A. P. Yuste. ''[https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4e50/0c55919cb5188ea379033bde77ac7aa2de2b.pdf Electrical Engineering Hall of Fame. Early Developments of Wireless Remote Control: The Telekino of Torres-Quevedo],''(pdf) vol. 96, No. 1, January 2008, Proceedings of the IEEE.</ref> and so up to 19 different actions.<ref>{{cite web|title=1902 – Telekine (Telekino) – Leonardo Torres Quevedo (Spanish)|date=2010-12-17|url=https://cyberneticzoo.com/early-robot-enabling-technologies/1902-telekine-telekino-leonardo-torres-quevedo-spanish/}}</ref> In 1904, Torres chose to carry out the first test on a three-wheeled land vehicle with a range of 20 to 30 meters.<ref>H. R. Everett, Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II, MIT Press - 2015, pages 91-95</ref> In 1906, in the presence of an audience which included King [[Alfonso XIII]] of Spain, Torres demonstrated the invention in the [[Port of Bilbao]], guiding the electrically powered launch ''Vizcaya'' from the shore with people on board, which was controlled at a distance over 2 km.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkYOrgEACAAJ |title=Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II |isbn=9780262029223 |last1=Everett |first1=H. R. |date=6 November 2015|publisher=MIT Press }}</ref> In 1904, ''Bat'', a [[Windermere]] steam launch, was controlled using experimental radio control by its inventor, [Jack Kitchen]. In 1909 French inventor [Gabet] demonstrated what he called his "''Torpille Radio-Automatique''", a radio-controlled torpedo.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_home.html#Gabet |title=Remote Piloted Aerial Vehicles |first=Russell |last=Naughton |website=www.ctie.monash.edu.au |access-date=2006-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208003823/http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_home.html#Gabet |archive-date=2006-12-08 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1917, [[Archibald Low]], as head of the secret [[Royal Flying Corps]] (RFC) experimental works at [[Feltham]], was the first person to use radio control successfully on an aircraft, a [[1917 Aerial Target]]. It was "piloted" from the ground by future world aerial speed record holder [[Henry Segrave]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-brief-history-of-drones |title = A Brief History of Drones}}</ref> Low's systems encoded the command transmissions as a countermeasure to prevent enemy intervention.<ref>"The Dawn of the Drone" Steve Mills 2019 Casemate Publishers. Page 189 "In order further to safeguard against outside interference I may have a number of inertia wheels of variable speed, only one being correctly adjusted to pick up the timed signals and actuate the mechanism."</ref> By 1918 the secret [[D.C.B. Section of the Royal Navy's Signals School, Portsmouth]] under the command of [[Eric Robinson V.C.]] used a variant of the Aerial Target’s radio control system to control from ‘mother’ aircraft different types of naval vessels including a submarine.<ref name=adm253>UK National Archives ADM 1/8539/253 Capabilities of distantly controlled boats. Reports of trials at Dover 28 - 31 May 1918</ref> [[File:USS Iowa Radio Gear.JPG|150px|thumb|left|alt=Black-and-white picture of a cabin. In a corner, intricate apparatus is mounted on a wall above a desk|Radio control gear invented by John Hays Hammond, Jr. installed in the battleship USS ''Iowa'' (1922)]] During World War I American inventor [[John Hays Hammond, Jr.]] developed many techniques used in subsequent radio control including developing remote controlled torpedoes, ships, anti-jamming systems and even a system allowing his remote-controlled ship targeting an enemy ship's searchlights.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/john-hays-hammond-jr |title=John Hays Hammond, Jr - Lemelson-MIT Program |website=lemelson.mit.edu |access-date=2017-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824033434/https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/john-hays-hammond-jr |archive-date=2017-08-24 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1922 he installed radio control gear on the obsolete US Navy battleship [[USS Iowa (BB-4)|USS ''Iowa'']] so it could be used as a [[target ship]]<ref name="Battleship4">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/bb4-t.htm |title=Coast Battleship No. 4 (ex-USS Iowa, Battleship # 4) -- As a Target Ship, 1921–1923 |date=13 April 2003 |work=Online Library of Selected Images:U.S. NAVY SHIPS |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=21 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209003739/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/bb4-t.htm |archive-date=2010-02-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (sunk in gunnery exercise in March 1923). The Soviet [[Red Army]] used remotely controlled [[teletank]]s during the 1930s in the [[Winter War]] against [[Finland]] and fielded at least two teletank battalions at the beginning of the [[Great Patriotic War]]. A teletank is controlled by radio from a control tank at a distance of 500–1500 m, the two constituting a ''telemechanical group''. There were also remotely controlled cutters and experimental remotely controlled planes in the Red Army. The United Kingdom's World War One development of their radio-controlled 1917 'Aerial Target' (AT) and 1918 'Distant Control Boat' (DCB) using Low's control systems led eventually to their 1930s fleet of "[[de Havilland Tiger Moth|Queen Bee]]". This was a remotely controlled unmanned version of the [[de Havilland]] "[[Tiger Moth]]" aircraft for [[Navy fleet]] gunnery firing practice. The "Queen Bee" was superseded by the similarly named ''[[Airspeed Queen Wasp]]'', a purpose-built target aircraft of higher performance.
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